


How Plants Bloom

by Orca (Orca2)



Category: N/A - Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-11
Updated: 2018-01-11
Packaged: 2019-02-28 13:04:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13272015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Orca2/pseuds/Orca
Summary: an elaborate description of how exactly my plant people work





	How Plants Bloom

Plants lack a heart muscle to circulate oxygen for their mitochondria to utilize, they use a vascular tissue that transports solvents via sap. Xylem sap consists primarily of a watery solution of hormones, mineral elements and other nutrients. Phloem sap consists primarily of sugars. Although this solution is nutrient-dense and easily life sustaining, very few animals utilize it as their main dietary source, as the digestive system required for it is quite complex. However, plants can easily exchange each others phloem sap. While these amalgamations have a heart, it doesn't beat.

The plant part of their anatomy is in a way a parasite that eventually fused its DNA with its host's, as it mainly exists within their digestive system, and releases chemicals that interfere with the human's brain function. 

Their stomach serves as the plant's mineral source, as that is where it is rooted. In a way, it's similar to the villi within the small intestinal tract, which serve to increase the surface area and assist the absorption of nutrients. Hypothetically, the only thing these people would consume by mouth would be rock minerals, as their photosynthesizing capabilities would supply all the energy they required. Although they need to drink water to synthesize sugars.

When put in prolonged darkness, the parasite releases hormones that mimic the starvation response usually accompanied by a plummet in dopamine, as all of it is converted to epinephrine. Due to the indefinite cell growth they're capable of, no loss of limb or organ is fatal, only the loss of light can truly kill someone. 

The parasite functions similarly to the genus of fungus which infects and takes control over ants, called "Ophiocordyceps", which require a host to complete it's reproduction cycle.

The reproductive system works the slightest bit differently than other plants, as they have the added advantage of mobility, and do not have to rely on the blind luck of pollinators. During spring, hormones such as gibberellin and cytokinins stimulate bud growth, causing the plant-humans to sprout flowers at around this time. Once an individual blooms, a positive feedback loop ensues in which anabolic hormones are repeatedly stimulated, and the internal foliage grows indefinitely. Bloomage allows an individual to reproduce, and after that the parasite slowly stops giving the host energy, and instead consumes the person from the inside, leading to their death.

Because plants grow as long as they are alive, and humans do not, they live relatively short lifespans. This uncontrolled growth is a result of the presence of meristemic cells. 

Rather than having chlorophyll embedded into their skin cells, they literally have leaves sprout out of them in the presence of sunlight. Or they could also utilize phototrophic bacteria embedded within their skin cells to synthesize glucose.

As their civilization would be located far North of the equator, they would be C3 plants rather than C4. C3 plants operate more effectively in cooler temperatures, as growth begins when the soil reaches 40-45°F. 

Their pores would function as stomata, which would open during the nights to allow the diffusion of CO2, and close during daytime to keep water from evaporating through the leaves (which is called _transpiring_ ). This CO2 and H2O is used along with the sunlight provided during the day to synthesize sugars, and for the case of C3 plants, do so by first reducing the CO2 by forming 2 molecules of 3-phosphoglyceric acid. Their signal to begin photosynthesizing would be of course, the coversion of Pr phytochrome conformation to the Pfr conformation leading to gene regulation. This conversion is a result of the exposure of red light increasing as opposed to far-red light, which is associated with sunlight.

Actually they could also have their lungs function as their method of gas exchange, breathing in CO2 and out oxygen, as they have less to worry about regarding transpiration because they can simply close their mouth. Perhaps they would only breathe at night, when they are asleep.

Plants sleep much like animals do, during this long absence of sunlight where photosynthesis can no longer occur. At night, the glucose prepared during the day is rapidly translocated through the phloem tissue to different parts of the plant and is stored in the form of insoluble starch.

Unlike most plants, the Hollys produce chlorophyll all year round, which is the reason for their immortality. They are called the "Evergreens", and can live after reproduction. The reason other plants do not live after blooming is that the plant begins to canibalize their host from the inside. At which point, they are buried in the ground and the plant continues to grow out of their grave.

The social rankings are the Holly family as the head, and various branch families that represent certain genuses. Lastly, there are weeds, which are tasked with menial labor due to their durability, and seen as lowly due to their rapid reproduction and lack of living standards. 


End file.
